Allister Keeps the Pressure on DARD Over IRA Monument
22 February 2012
Statement by TUV leader and North Antrim MLA Jim Allister:
“The belated interest of the DUP in the funding for a monument to terrorists in Crossmaglen is welcome. Just as was the case with David Ford’s plan to strip Her Majesty’s Prison Service of its royal connections, Peter Robinson and his party only got exercised after TUV brought the issue to light.
“A series of important questions about the whole issue remain unanswered. When did the Agriculture Minister make the decision that the Crossmaglen terrorist monument is eligible for funding and why was it not referred to the Executive as a controversial issue? On what basis did the Minister decide that the monument was eligible for funding? What process did the application for funding go through? Just what was to be inscribed on the additional plaques which are intended to be added to the terrorist monument? How can the Minister square a decision to fund such a monument with her obligation under the Ministerial Code to uphold the rule of law and promote the interests of the whole community?
“And what action have the First Ministers taken now that TUV has brought the issue to light?
“It is sickening to think that tax payer’s money could have been squandered on a monument which glorifies IRA terrorists in an area where that organisation carried out some of their most blatantly sectarian murders.
“It would seem that on this issue DUP were, once again, asleep at the wheel. Where it not for the intervention of TUV this decision would have slipped past without so much as a whimper of protest.”
Note to editors: Having yesterday tabled a priority written question to the DoE Minister asking if the monument had planning permission Mr Allister today tabled the following questions on the issue:
To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development when the decision that the Crossmaglen terrorist monument is eligible for funding under Measure 3.6 of the Rural Development Programme was made and why was it not referred to the Executive as a controversial issue.
To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development the basis on which it was decided that the Crossmaglen terrorist monument is eligible for funding under Measure 3.6 of the Rural Development Programme was made.
To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development how and when the issue of the Crossmaglen terrorist monument being eligible for funding under Measure 3.6 of the Rural Development Programme came to be before the Minister.
To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development when the department first received an application to fund the Crossmaglen terrorist monument under Measure 3.6 of the Rural Development Programme.
To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development to explain the process hereafter, resulting from her determination that the Crossmaglen terrorist monument is eligible for funding under Measure 3.6 of the Rural Development Programme, in respect of the handling of the application.
To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development to specify the content of the additional plaques which are intended to be added to the Crossmaglen terrorist monument which the Minister has determined is eligible for funding under Measure 3.6 of the Rural Development Programme.
To ask the First and deputy First Minister what steps, and with what results, have been taken in respect of the decision by the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development that the Crossmaglen terrorist monument is eligible for funding under Measure 3.6 of the Rural Development Programme.
To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development what regard was had to the equality implications and the Ministerial Code of Conduct, in particular the obligations to uphold the rule of law and to promote the interests of the whole community, in the decision that the Crossmaglen terrorist monument is eligible for funding under Measure 3.6 of the Rural Development Programme.
